A Luna Adventure with the Flock
by Emelion3
Summary: What happens when a new member joins the Flock? What new adventures await? What new mysteries will unfold? What romances will be formed? Read more to find out! OCxIggy & Max&Fang later. "Surprisingly, I did land perfectly on the branch. 10 points! As I tucked my wings against my ribcage, the sturdy-looking branch snapped. Thanks to that I got stuck in a bear trap..." *ON HIATUS*
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Guys! Eme3 here! I'm really excited about this fanfiction! (Like 25 Pop-Tart sugar high excited) First off, because it's my FIRST fanfiction. And second of all, who doesn't like Maximum ride? I'll be doing some other POV's throughout the story. Sorry it's kind of OC centered. IggyxOC and Max&Fang later on. (Fax just sounds weird don'tcha think? Like faxing a letter? Oh, Nevermind.) Please Review. I like criticism, not rudeness. :D**

**I do not own Maximum Ride or any of its awesomeness**

**Chapter 1: Escape** **(Should I even make title names?)**

**Luna's POV**

Every day I survive seems like a demonic nightmare that lasts an eternity. I do not see why they have not killed me yet even though they dish out death threats like free popcorn. You see, I live in a lab. That's right... and in a dog crate. The mad scientists call me B44-11, but I call myself Luna.

I have no friends at California Sunshine Labs (great name for a terrible place, right?), but I used to. Her name was C45-67, or Annabeth. She was a "successful" (which basically means you haven't died yet) genetic hybrid. 98% human and 2% horse. We'd always each other company in side-by-side cages. However, one of the days the scientists brought her in for testing they forced her to overexert herself, and she suffered seizures. The scientists then deemed her no longer successful and left her out to be torn limb by limb by erasers. Erasers are half-human, half-lupine creatures.

I, Luna, am also a "successful" genetic hybrid. I know I'm part human and bird, but I don't know what else. The only reason I know I'm part bird is because I have wings, hence why tests are being done on me. I used to be in so much excruciating pain when the scientists did tests on me, but now I feel nothing.

Tomorrow is a field day. Mutants are picked lottery-style to go out into the back of the school where the Erasers are. Out of the 100's out there, all are killed but one. The last mutant standing gets the ultimate prize... freedom. I have never been picked for the lottery, but I could always hear the screams of the tournament from my crate. They were screams of death.

* * *

I woke up to a man in a lab coat sticking a needle in my arm.

"I'm testing how a human hybrid's immune system reacts with the Ebola virus," he stated while looking off into space. "We'll see the effects later." I said nothing to him and complied to the shots because I knew it could be worse, but I also groaned inwardly at the thought of one of the most deadly diseases being injected into my body. (I live in a lab and I'm bored half the time, what else am I supposed to learn?) He opened my dog crate and attached a leash to my metal, high-voltage, electrocuting collar. He then practically yanked me down the hallway.

"It's time for the lottery." 127 paces later and the third door on the right I was yanked down and told to "sit and stay" in a large metal room with the rest of the mutants from Sunshine Labs. A speaker above crackled to life and a female voice came on.

"And the winners of the lottery are..." (Ironic right?) "E3-5, E3-6, W40-10, J18-2..." (a lot more names that I didn't pay attention to, whoops) "...K8-8, and B44-11." My heart froze as my name was called and sunk to the bottom of my chest. _I could die._ I then mentally slapped myself and calmed my nerves. _I could also get out alive. Win. Have freedom._

Those called were herded like sheep out onto the field. Within each row the pattern was: mutant, Eraser, mutant, Eraser, ect. So, one Eraser per mutant. Or, in other words, a blood-fest. Yay! (ugh.) The field was around four by four football fields. The perimeter consisted of an electric fence as tall as Mount Everest, and electric netting stringing the air. (Electric torture devices are very "in" in this issue of _Mad Scientist_.)

A clock had been counting down the seconds until the free-for-all started. There were only ten seconds left when I remembered something...

_I cannot hurt anyone._

* * *

It's not that I'm incapable of hurting people, but I am morally against hurting someone, I would just feel evil afterwards even if the person I hurt is evil. (It's sad, I know, but I'm the whole fluffy person running around screaming "DON'T KILL THE BUNNIES! NOT THEM!" Although, I'm not that fond of bunnies...) The buzzer finally went off and I whirled around to see who was behind me. I had so much momentum that... that... I threw up all over the poor mutant behind me and he sort of, ahem, melted.

_Whoops! That's Ebola working for you. Side effects: not as bad when injected into a mutant._ I then tried to find my next opponent and spotted one. Not being able to hurt her an all, I wasn't sure how to take her down. As I started to approach her, Erasers pounced on her, forcing her to let loose a scream I only knew too well. The sight of someone being killed in front of me made my eyes start to tingle with tears. I needed to ignore that and focus on my opponents.

I looked up, and there was a sea of Erasers. Time to fight Luna style. I started to sprint up to them, but before their gnarled yellow teeth could snap at me, I jabbed both of them in the necks. The two Erasers fell to the ground. You know the whole non-hurting thing? I still abide to that holy rule. I use pressure points to force non-painful weakness in the body, causing the body to fall to unconsciousness.

The next twenty erasers I flitted from side to side with my wings and hit them in-between their ribcage and shoulder, which causes them to mutate back into their model-esque form and unable to morph for a good twenty-four hours. After a few minutes of that, I was panting slightly and there was only one mutant left: W40-10.

He was claimed to be the best mutant out of all mutants in Sunshine Labs. All the Erasers except the ones I incapacitated laid at his feet. He was part human part snake. He launched at me and went into a series of kicks and punches that I poorly blocked with my hands.

"I don't... want to... hurt you!" I shouted in-between ragged breaths.

"Well then I guess we know who is going to die then!" W40-10 yelled back. I sighed and pretended to think he was right by lowering my hands from fighting stance. W40-10 was then behind me and used his tail to constrict me, crushing my wings painfully against my body. He brought his fangs close to my smooth neck in order to inject venom into my bloodstream and finish me off. A crowd of scientists were cheering for him to make the final blow when I thought deeply about my morals for a second. (I have poor timing, I know, you know, we all know.)

"A little bit... of pain... is a small price to pay... for living!" I said in-between constrictions and right before I slammed my head as hard as I could into his. Somehow, he was the only one bleeding and unconscious. Point Luna!

"And the winner is B44-11!" The woman from the intercom announced in astonishment. With my above average hearing, I caught tidbits of what the other scientists were saying.

"Extraordinary..."

"Unexpected..."

"I wish I could do more tests..."

_Well to bad!_ 15 minutes later the whitecoats had cleaned the carnage, took off my collar, and took down the electric netting so I could fly out. I snapped out my white-flecked-with-black wings from underneath my blood-stained hospital gown, took a running start, and leapt to the sky. I gained altitude till around 10,000 feet. The whole time that I was heading east/ southeast, I kept thinking: _There has to be a catch._

By the time it was dark I was already in Oklahoma. I eased into a descent by angling the tips of my primaries. I then steepened my descent in order to land perfectly on a sturdy-looking oak branch. (Get it? I'm in Oklahoma and it's an oak... oh nevermind...) Surprisingly, I did land perfectly on the branch. 10 points! As I tucked my wings against my ribcage, the sturdy-looking branch snapped. Thanks to that I got stuck in a bear trap. I sort of passed out when I saw the GIANT THINGclamped on my leg... so I don't really know what happened for a while, my bad.

* * *

I woke up in a car.

_I hate cars_. I look to my left and see a woman.

"I see you have finally woken up! Let me introduce myself, I'm Anne Walker. I was on my way to see an old friend when I saw you laying on the side of the road with a bear trap in your leg!" Note to self: _Never_ pick a branch or tree near a road. Why was there a bear trap there anyway? Poor planning? Or maybe was it the scientists doing?

"So... do you know about my extraordinary bone structure? My high cheek bones are world renowned," I asked casually.

She laughed, "Yes, yes I do, and I'm not just talking about those cheekbones. Speaking of bone structures, I'm taking you to a place with people just like you." I contemplated that idea while I looked down at my leg, there were no injuries from the bear trap.

* * *

**AN: Okay! I hope you guys like my first chappie! I couldn't get the darn tab button to work, but oh well... Please review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Eme3 is back with some more Flock-filled fun! Personally I think I liked Chapter 1 better, but who knows. Please tell me what you think: review, tell me where the story should go next, ect. On to the next chappie!**

**I DO NOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM OWN THE AWESOME MAXIMUM RIDE CHARACTERS AND EVERYTHING ELSE (Phew, that was a mouthfull.)**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

**Max's POV**

Today was the one day in Max History that I did not wake up before Jeb. I was infuriated. Call me a control freak, but I have to wake up the flock before anyone else. It is like I have an internal maternal device that works like a GPS or alarm.

I walked out into the hallway and peeked into Angel and Nudge's room. No one there. Fang's room: No one. Gazzy and Ig's: **No one**. My heart rate increased and I started panicking. I wasn't going to show that of course.

"ANGEL! FANG! IGGY! NUDGE! GAZZY!" I yelled throughout the house. I only heard an echo.

"ANGEL! FANG! Iggy... Nudge... Gasman?" I called, listening as my voice disappeared into a whisper.

_Geez, Calm down. We're in the living room. No need to burst our eardrums. _Thank goodness for Angel the Mind Reader! I skidded to a halt in front of the living room. The Flock was _behaving_. Gazzy was vacuuming, Nudge and Angel were dusting, Iggy cooked up a buffet, and Fang was folding laundry.

_Hey, Fang looks kinda cute doing lau-... wait, what! I mean... What did Jeb do to them!_ Looking up and seeing my face, Nudge explained that Jeb was meeting with someone to bring a mutant back to the house to live with us for a while and expected us to clean up. In no way was this new mutant ever going to become part of the flock.

A few minutes later, Jeb's truck was heard pulling up to the house. I put on my best grim 'I don't want you to be here face', but the rest of the flock didn't follow suit and ran excitedly to the door. Man, I was starting to hate this new mutant already. We then all went outside to greet the mutant. Out of the truck stepped out Jeb and a girl about my age. She had long curly blonde hair to her waist and clear green eyes. She wore cheap capris, a white Goodwill shirt, and a quirky smile.

"B40-... I mean Luna, this is Angel: age 4, Gazzy/ The Gasman: 6, Nudge: 9, Iggy: 12, Fang: 12, and Max: 12. Guys, this is Luna. She's 12 and is more like you than you know," Jeb stated.

"Oh... yeah? How?" I snarled as the Flock and I unfurled our wings.

"For starters, she grew up in a terrible lab just like the School," Jeb countered.

"Still doesn't make her anything like us," I muttered protectively. Luna's eyes showed hurt for only a millisecond and then narrowed. That is when all the wings came out.

* * *

**Luna's POV**

That was two years ago. Jeb left us not long after I came. We don't know where he went or what happened, but the whole Flock likes to avoid talking about it.

I stirred my jasmine tealeaves around in a pot with honey and clover. The aroma wafted up to my nose, making it tingle with excitement. I loved enjoying a fresh cup of tea early in the morning when no one is around. That is part of why I want to be an herbalist when I grow up. The other reason why is because I want to cure and help people, without all the pharmaceutical drugs.

Max wasn't going to be happy that I woke up before her, although she has never woke me up like she has done to the others. There she was, stumbling down the hall with her brown hair in a knotted mess. When she got the sleep out of her eyes she saw me and scowled.

Then the Nudge Channel turned on, thankfully, so Max stopped shooting lasers out of her eyes and went to go quiet Nudge only to be startled by Fang, who had been watching the whole time from the doorway. Max's face flushed and she pushed him out of the way as she hurried down the hall. Fang gave a lopsided smile and followed her.

Gazzy must have heard the Nudge Channel because he came into the living room to listen to some real TV. Then came Angel, probably waking up from everyone's crazy minds being active this early in the morning.

_She was shooting eye-laserbeams too! Ahh! I'm forced to come live with the Flock and suddenly Angel and Max hate me! What gives?_ By the time I had finished ranting, Iggy had perfectly aimed himself at the couch and plopped down.

I went over to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, one of my favorite pastimes because I could use the plants I grew. I grabbed some baby tomatoes, green onions, and some red bell peppers. I started to cut the tomatoes on the cutting board and then turned around to grab the peppers off the counter.

"GAH!" I yelled. Iggy was two inches from my face. I blushed furiously.

"Hey, was wondering if I could help with breakfast," Iggy suggested, looking bored.

"Yeah!" I replied, grinning like an idiot.

* * *

**Angel's POV**

They were so cute together: Flinging bell pepper pieces, dunking each other in flour, playing paper football with baked crust pieces, and laughing. Luna lifted her face from the flour sack, flour coating her golden head. She looked kinda like an angel, but that was my job. Her face was like an open book and told all her thoughts. I scowled. That made me that much more infuriated that I couldn't read her mind.

* * *

**Luna's POV**

And our big, happy, messed up genetic hybrid family sat down for breakfast. Vegetarian Breakfast Quiches!

"Vegetarian?" Fang questioned.

"Yeah, it has gravy and egg... that's close to meat to you, isn't it? Anywho, I'm a vegetarian and made a vegetarian meal, is that like a poisonous word or something?" I asked.

"Yes!" the whole Flock responded. I huffed and sank down in my seat in a curled up ball and ate my quiche.

"Whoa..." **(AN: is it woah or whoa?)** Gazzy said, "this is Food Heaven! Thank you!" My turn to say "whoa." The Flock rarely says thank you. In all my two years with the flock I had never heard those words. That may have been because of me... but still! I glanced over at the Gasman who looked like he was in pure ecstasy and smiled. I had that giant goofy smile plastered to my face the rest of breakfast.

* * *

**Still same POV (if I don't mention a POV change assume it's the same)**

Angel wanted the Flock to go pick strawberries after breakfast, that's why we were fighting Erasers in a strawberry field right now. We were losing horribly: Iggy's nose was bleeding and he was sporting a black eye, Nudge and Gazzy were unconscious, Angel and I were tied up (except Angel was being taken away), Max was crying out for Angel, and Fang was struggling to get out of a wing hold (painfully pulling wings behind bird mutant) to chop the Eraser behind him in pieces.

Ari, supposedly one of the Flock's childhood friends, who is not to mention an Eraser, gassed the place and knocked the rest of us to unconsciousness.

I woke up and my first thought was: _They took Angel, the pride and joy of the Flock. Without her, we were no longer the Flock, just heartbroken mutants. _Nudge started to untie my bands and Max did a painful head count.

"Report," she ordered.

"Scratched, still blind, but still Iggy," Iggy said.

"Healthy but infuriated," Gazzy called.

"Ditto that," Nudge stated half-heartedly. One of the shortest sentences of Nudgekind!

"Ready for action," Fang said.

*A period of silence...*

"Luna? Report!" Max screamed in frustration.

"Oh... sorry. I'm fine, I guess," I replied.

"Luna? Why aren't you scratched like the rest of us?" Gazzy asked with big, trusting eyes.

"Yeah, about that..." I started.

"Forget it. Tell us when we get home, if you would of tried harder then maybe Angel wouldn't be heading off to where I think she's going!" Max yelled.

"Max, maybe she really did try her best," Fang said quietly, hoping his lopsided grin would smooth things over.

"Whatever..." (He calmed down the Maxado! [Maxado: a tornado + Max] Dang, he has skills.)

* * *

**Back at the House: No one's POV**

The "Flock" sat around the kitchen table with the remains of breakfast scattered around as Luna got pummeled with questions. (Mainly just one big question.)

"We need to make a plan to go get Angel. But first off, we need to find out what Luna hasn't been telling us," Max said, "So why weren't you hurt like the rest of us, Luna?"

"Ah... well... you see, I'm sorta, kinda invincible? The scientists did a bunch of injections and tests to where my body cannot be physically broken. So, I'm like Superwoman, except without all the kick-butt moves and retaliation battle powers. I never really had gotten the chance to tell you about it because I wanted to be part of the Flock like I am now. Plus, you probably wouldn't of helped me practice hand-to-hand combat if you knew," Luna explained.

Fang thought: _It was true; every time we fought Luna we couldn't knock her down. (Although she couldn't knock us down either.) It made me aggravated every time she wasn't knocked down. I wouldn't of fought her if I knew I couldn't beat her._

"You think you're part of the flock now?" Max spat, "You were never part of the Flock, not now, and never will be!" Luna's eyes turned wide as she started to cry. That was when the tears of blood came.

* * *

**Well that's all for this chapter. A little bit too wierd? Was Max too OOC and cruel, or does she just plain not like Luna? Tell me what ya think! :)**

**Also, I figured out how to insert horizontal lines today! Yay me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back and ready to show another chapter! Sorry it took so long. I have a lot of summer homework and MAJOR swim meets I needed to attend. This one isn't as long but gets a little fluffy here and there. I don't like getting fluffy fast -_-. Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters**

***Previously***

_"You think you're part of the flock now?" Max spat, "You were never part of the Flock, not now, and never will be!" Luna's eyes turned wide as she started to cry. That was when the tears of blood came._

* * *

**Max's POV:**

Okay, so maybe that was a little bit overboard. Luna was now growing bruises all over her body. _I couldn't deal with this right now. Plus, it was slightly creepy._

"Iggy? Can you fix Luna up?" I asked. He couldn't see all the blood and bruises, but he could fix them! I went down the hall and into my room. A few seconds later I heard a light tapping at my door.

"Come in," I said. Fang opened the door and came and sat down on my bed, which I was laying on.

"A little ruthless back there, huh?" Fang commented.

"Yeah, I know. I just feel like she's going to replace me. Not just as a leader, but in other ways too. She has adorable blonde curls, I've got boring brown hair. She's a pro at cooking, I burn toaster pastries. Gazzy's eyes light up when Luna teaches new things to him and gives him piggyback rides while I give him a pat on the back and a 'good job kiddo'. Luna laughs and blushes at Iggy's every joke while I slap him upside the head for any sexist thing he says. She's so fabulous, while I'm so plain, boring, and dull," I stated quietly.

"First off, you're not boring, you're a bird kid. Second of all, no one can replace you, and you know it. Plus, I'm positive Luna just wants to fit in. Even if there were two of you, you wouldn't be able to replace you, but that would be crazy," Fang assured me. That was probably the longest statement Fang would say all year.

"I'm going to have to apologize, aren't I?" I asked. The edges of Fang's mouth curved upwards slightly.

"Thought so. But in no way am I going to say 'I'm sorry'," I told him while smiling.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied.

* * *

***meanwhile***

**Iggy's POV:**

So, I'm on clean up duty. Gazzy finally decided to inform me on the whole blood and bruises thing. It gets frustrating having to wait for someone to tell you what's going on.

I located the crying sound and went towards it. Luna put her head on my shoulder and continued to shed tears. I put my arm around her and soothed her by running my other hand through her hair and calmly whispering, "Shh..." Luna's cries turned into whimpers and then into sniffles. It seemed as though she had calmed down.

"She probably didn't mean what she said," I started.

"Nah, you know she meant every word," Luna replied.

"Well, if she meant it, I know she regrets it now," I countered.

"Mmm... I guess, but I still feel like a wimp. I have never seen anyone from the Flock cry once. Yeah I'm physically invincible, but that messed up with my genetic makeup. Now anytime I am mentally hurt it converts to physical pain. I just want to be a normal bird kid. I know that is ironic, but if I was a normal mutant then I wouldn't be such a burden to the Flock. A burden to you..." Luna whispered to me. I sighed.

"Luna... you could never... never... disappoint me. You have the strength to stand up to Max. Max! You came here with an open mind while some of us still hated you. However, you proved us wrong. And if it means anything to you, you'll always be part of the Flock to me," I told her.

"Thanks Ig," Luna said while putting my hand to her mouth so I knew she was smiling.

"No prob. I'm kind of tired now though and I don't see any pillow nearby, can I use your fluffy head of hair instead?" I asked calmly.

"I... uh... um... s-s-su-sure..." Luna stuttered. I chuckled. She was probably blushing right now. She sounded so... cute when she stuttered. Luna put her head on my shoulder and I put my head on hers. Sometime before we fell asleep I felt Gazzy come and lie down in our laps.

**No POV:**

They fell asleep like that, all together, like a family, with smiles on all of their faces.

* * *

**Luna's POV:**

Something was on my head. Oh... yeah. I blushed. With my eyes closed, I reached my hand over to make sure Ig was still there. _Ahh! Empty space!_ The something was now patting my head. My eyes shot open.

"Hey Luna, time to get up. We've got a bird kid to save," Max grinned while patting my head. I grinned. _Apology accepted._ I looked around to see Iggy and Gazzy sulking in the kitchen.

"What's up with them?" I asked.

"They aren't coming with to save Angel. They'll hinder our mission," Max stated.

"Although I don't think breaking the Flock up more will do any good, I'll stay with Ig and the Gasman to make things even," I told her.

"You don't have a choice, you're staying here anyway," she replied. _Yay! I'm considered a weak link!_ There was an awkward silence to see if I was going to start bleeding or yelling at Max.

"Team Weak Flock Members unite!" I snuck glances at everyone. Fang grinned at me and Ig grinned at the picture frame beside me. The whole Flock (ahem *cough* minus one person *cough**cough*) burst into laughter.

* * *

The door closed behind Nudge, Max, and Fang as we said our last good-byes. I silently counted 1...2...3...4...5...

"Who's ready to break some stuff!" I yelled. Sure I was enraged at being considered a weak link, but I mainly just wanted to break stuff before we left. I mean seriously? You leave us in an Eraser-watched place and expect us to be eaten alive? We're not dumb. (I'm not counting the whole uneducated mutant in a cage thing, just common sense) Also, you can't just break up the Flock, we operate as one unit. Inseparable. I got off my soapbox, Gazzy and Iggy had already broken most of the plates!

"Hey! Leave some for me!" I yelled. Then I jumped into the mad free-for-all.

"How do you feel about bombs?" Gazzy asked tentatively.

"Bombs?" I responded, "Well, they hurt people and lead to death... radiation from nukes can still be found in areas and lead to birth defects, illness... oh, sorry. I am not fond of them." I explained the Eraser problem to Ig and Gaz. They hadn't thought about it either! *facepalm*

"Luna, we need to defend ourselves from the Erasers, not have them tear us apart limb by limb," Iggy said while attaching a green and red wire onto a contraption.

"Make all the bombs you want, just don't get me involved. Max made me promise you wouldn't blow up the house, but you can blow up anything else up," I said. _She really needs to rephrase her promises._

I went upstairs to my room and started packing up what little stuff I had because after throwing a few bombs and making Eraser-confetti, you wouldn't want to be in the same spot for long either. I was just closing my sack when I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder. A hairy hand. I sighed.

"What makes you think I'll come with you?"

"Although you cannot be hurt, your friends can. We have loaded this house with bombs, one false move missy and your friends won't see another day," the Eraser snarled.

_Greaaat... not only do they use cheesy 'you're dead' lines, Erasers turn into pyromaniacs. Now he really had me in a pickle. Not only would Ig and the Gasman get blown up, but Max would also be mad that I didn't keep her promise._

"Lead the way furry-butt," I said.

"Oh, I'm not leading..." the Eraser grinned while motioning to one of the smallest crates in mutant history. Ugh. Might as well stick a collar on me and make me woof. Well, that's how I ended up finding and getting to Angel first.

* * *

**So, how was it? Not that much word choice this time, sorry. I found it funny how Max and Luna have a giant insecure moment at the same time. Tell me if anyone is still OOC. I'll try to include more of Nudge later, but I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do for half of the next chappie, but my mind is crazy, so who knows. Review review review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Eme3 is here with a loonng ch. I really enjoyed writing this one. A couple things before this thing gets under way... To Pyro and Darnet co. (who I couldn't figure out how to PM) I have never read the Hunger Games, I have them on reserve at the local library though. If the first ch was like it, I apologize, I meant for it to have no connection to that series. Second of all, a language advisory warning is in place for the first part of this chapter because I felt it was the best way to get the emotion across. Review or PM if you have a suggestion concerning that or the chappie. Have fun reading!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride nor the series, ect.**

* * *

**I****ggy's POV**

I had just finished attaching the last wires to Max's Mickey Mouse alarm clock when I frowned. Luna's light, delicate footsteps had been replaced with harsh, clomping ones. My heart rate and worry increased as I leapt off my seat and yanked Gazzy out of his chair by some part of his shirt. I sprinted down the hall until I smacked my foot (with enough force to break it, might I add) right into a table.

"Somebody moved the furniture and didn't tell me," I growled as I made a left towards the stairs. I snapped my wings out and flew up the stairs with as much momentum as I could get. Unfortunately, that caused Gazzy to hit his head on every step due to the way I was holding him. I then skidded to a halt in front of Luna's room. I slammed open the door.

"What does it look like, Gaz?" I asked.

"Well, considering the fact that my head is spinning from you banging me around so much, as far as I can tell Luna's backpack is on her bed, the window is broken with glass shards everywhere and the curtains billowing around it, and... Luna's gone Ig... somebody kidnapped her," Gaz reported sadly.

"We were too late Gazzy... I was too late! If only I had heard sooner... then maybe, just maybe..." I started.

"It's okay Ig, it's okay," the Gasman comforted me.

"No, that is just it. It is not okay," I whispered as I walked over to the window and kneeled down. I started slamming my fists with intensity and power into the ground. The glass shards that I pummeled started to break my skin, but I didn't care.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" I screamed as the tears that stung my eyes started to overflow and roll down my cheeks.

I remember Gaz yelling, "Ig! Iggy!" as he shook my shoulders and tried to peel me off the ground, but I kept hurling myself at the floor. I was supposed to be Iggy: the one who laughs everything off and takes it easy. However, all I could think about was how most of the Flock was gone, Angel was gone, and Luna was gone. I also thought of how lost I was without them.

* * *

**Gazzy's POV:**

Ten minutes later I had finally calmed Iggy down and wrapped his mutilated hands in gauze. Geez, and he was supposed to be the grown-up one. I saw something catch light in the middle of the floor. It looked metallic. I picked it up. _A voice recorder._ I pressed play.

Iggy's head whirled around as Luna's voice came to life in the small speaker, "I can see them coming. The Erasers I mean. They are coming for me though, not you. I cannot stop them, if I tried, it would hurt you guys. That is why I'm probably going to have to go with them. I already placed trackers on Nudge and I," she laughed, "I had to go through hours of Nudge stories for her to agree. The coordinates are on the GPS in my bag." The recorded message had stopped.

"She knew this was happing? How?" I questioned Iggy.

"I don't know Gaz, but Luna sure is clever at thinking ahead," Iggy said as he opened the sack. The biggest pocket-hole of the sack had three tiers of... wait for it... plants. All sorts of herbs and fruit and vegetable plants were set up in this weird, over-calculated, on-the-go irrigation system.

I told Iggy about it and he chuckled, "Sounds like Luna." I finally found the right pocket (that didn't have plant seeds) and pulled out the GPS.

"Well, it looks like Nudge is at... a place called Lake Mead. As for Luna, the coordinates aren't reading," I told Iggy.

"I guess she didn't take into account that any GPS probably can't track anything in the vicinity of the School," Iggy said.

"So... are we heading to Lake Mead?" I asked.

"Yes..." Iggy said slowly while grinning a satanic grin, "but I want to take some revenge first.

* * *

**Luna's POV:**

Darn... they found the tracker. They said I was going to get "special treatment" because of the tracker. I don't know, but when I think of special treatment I think of smoothies and gelato. Their idea of special treatment is torture. The Eraser, Ari, had known about my invincibility, but it seemed as though none of the other scientists knew. A man would stand on a platform with a taser while I would be flying next to him. Every time I dropped altitude, lost speed, or every fifteen minutes I would get zapped. I had to keep this up for seventy-two hours. Straight. This could get exciting.

***71 and 7/8 hours later***

...and by exciting I mean completely boring. I thought I would have the guts to at least take the taser out of the whitecoat's hand and slap him silly with it, but noooo, my stupid morals had to get in the way and ruin everything. My life wasn't in any pain or danger from being zapped, so I saw no reason to hurt the man. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Every time I was zapped with the taser I felt like I was being loaded with coffee.

_"I am the energizer bunny!"_ I couldn't help thinking. I was finally allowed to come down and heard the scientists talking while I was led to my crate (surprisingly near Angel's crate!).

"Performance never dropped..."

"B44-11 performed far better that the subjects like her..."

"We need to give more money to Sunshine Labs for their scientific endeavors..."

_Weirdoes._ I went in my crate and looked at Angel. She looked terrible (no offense). Huge dark circles rimmed her eyes that were wide with fear and cuts and red marks covered her body from the tests she had been put through. She had been trying to tell me something about one of the scientists, but that was when I was taken away for "special treatment." The door squeaked open and Angel's eyes grew wider, if possible.

"_It's him_," she mouthed.

"Hey Angel, sweetie, we just need to do one more blood test. If you can come with us now..." the man explained.

"Take me instead," I told the scientist. The brown leather loafers walked towards me and the man crouched in front of my cage.

"I'm sorry Luna, but we only want pure blood. Plus," he added with a laugh, "it would be pretty hard for us to get blood from you."

_It was Jeb!_ I just had an epiphany moment. If Jeb was now part of them, then that meant Anne Walker was part of them too! Terrible thing was, anytime I have a mental overload, I hyperventilate.

* * *

**Gazzy's POV:**

I wonder what Luna would think about our revenge. She would know what to say. When we dropped the bomb, the Erasers in the cabin we had sought refuge in caught fire. One of the incinerated Eraser's carcasses flew up so high that when it came down the body made a "splat!" noise. I still felt guilty about the whole situation. However, I had the whole flight to Nevada to think my feelings through.

We had already logged four hours of flight time and I was starving to the point of which my stomach would probably eat me. My stomach growled.

"I second that notion," Iggy declared.

"What are we going to eat?" I asked.

"We could eat some of Luna's plants," Iggy suggested.

"But we need real extra-calorie food. There is a fast food joint below," I told Iggy.

"We have no money," he retorted.

"No, no we don't. However, I do have a plan," I said.

"Is it something Max would approve of?"

"Of course not!" I smiled, "40° descent and 20° to the left." When we angled into our descent, I looked at the clouds. They were dark and moving fast.

_Looks like it's going to storm._

When we had agreed to descend, that was when we sealed our fate for our journey to go downhill.

* * *

**Luna's POV:**

I opened my eyes and blinked a couple times.

_Whaat? Oh, right. Hyperventilated and passed out, got'cha._ What didn't make sense was where I was. Outside (The School's outdoor "playground" to be precise.) I didn't see anything obstructing the sky, which was by the way, very ominous. I backed up a couple feet while looking at the sky wearily and prepared to take off. That's when I ran into Jeb. Geezum, talk about having tunnel vision. He pointed to around a 3,000 foot tall concrete wall. I had know idea where he was going to go with this.

"You see that concrete wall surrounding the outdoor facility? Well, we have adopted the idea from some other labs and have installed hair-thin, razorblade-sharp titanium wires strung everywhere on top of the walls. You wouldn't want to get hurt, not even you can break through that metal."

"What challenge or test is next, oh High and Mighty One?" I was feeling a wee bit snarky today, "Or do you still prefer _Daddy_ when you stick a taser to people's arms?" Jeb smiled sadly.

_I'm just glad I'm not his favorite. Who knows what he would do then._

Another man stepped forward, "Previously, you lasted in a seventy-two hour flight, today we are testing your flying in unfavorable weather conditions. We will be inside, do your best. The test will end when the weather passes." They went inside to their insane humble abode as I stood outside in the sprinkling raindrops wondering when I was supposed to fly. Over the next minute the sprinkles changed to raindrops and then a straight-out downpour. My curly blonde hair started to stick to my gown, as both got soaked. Even my wings were absorbing water, making them heavy and cold. I started shaking and shivering. That it when I saw it. A huge flash of lightning followed instantaneously by an earsplitting thunder. I cringed. I hated storms. I hated the thunder more than the lightning although. I also hated storms because the lightning and thunder triggered the floor underneath me to shake and tremble creakily. A chasm started to open beneath the floor with lava and hot coals.

_Really? How low can you go?_ I took a running jump and snapped out my snowy white wings, which were nearly translucent from the water except a few peppery specks. The lava gorge now spanned the entire outdoor facility; water drops fell in causing steam to rise and made everything hazy and difficult to see. I, however, was not worried about any of that. I was worried about the titanium wires above that were probably one of the few physical things on this planet that could indeed hurt me. All I could think of was conductivity. The metal would attract the lightning and then I would be a perfectly roasted bird kid entree. Another flash of lightning came through the steam, then the thunder. It was getting harder and harder to withhold all the water weight in my wings and I started to droop towards the lava.

Another flash of lightning. More thunder. I gasped in shock and pure pain and I covered my ears with my hands. My body curled into fetal position and my wings crumpled against my body. I started plummeting at an exponential speed to the boiling pit of lava.

* * *

**What'cha think? Review! I have a shoulder injury so that means less swimming and more writing, so hopefully the next chappie will come out soon! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, Eme3 here. I know I promised to crank these chapters out faster and that this is a really short chappie. But please don't kill me! There's been a lot of family stuff going on and you cant exactly think of a good story with people yelling all around you -_-. Anywho... I hope you guys enjoy and please review! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride**

* * *

**Iggy's POV:**

The door of the fast food joint creaked open and a bombardment of greasy food smells and other fattening aromas hit my nose.

"Gaz, if there is ever a Heaven in food, we have found it," I told him. He tapped my hand and I followed the sound of his footsteps.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Gazzy asked sweetly with probably big doe eyes on his face, "our parents didn't want us and kicked us out of their homes (_most likely to be true_). My brother and I have been scavenging day in and day out in rancid, stench filled dumpsters and are starving, would you be able to buy us a few hamburgers? We have no money..." Gazzy's stomach grumbled with ferocity. Standing ovation! His sap story should get him an Emmy!

"Ha!" the lady laughed, "Do you really believe I would fall for such a made up story? Use your own cash!" Talk about a snob. Ah, lovely America: on one hand you have evil scientists who perform horrendous experiments on humans and on the other hand you have women who won't buy hungry bird kids sandwiches.

As the woman's heels clicked away to some snobby, CEO mega-corporation occupation, Gazzy tapped my hand twice.

"Uh... Ig? The cashier is going Eraser on us, we need to leave now." We sprinted back toward the door and literally yanked the door off its hinges. A musty, mud-like scent hit me. Forgot about the rain. I heard a thud behind me. The Eraser had finished morphing and leapt over the counter. Gaz and I made a beeline to the forest conveniently located behind the joint. Lightning clashed above. My wings felt stiff and frozen from being soaked by the heavy rain.

"Up and away?" I asked in a slightly panicked voice.

"Worth a shot," the Gasman replied. With a running start and prayer that I wouldn't slam into anything, I jumped, snapped my wings out, and pumped them up and down vigorously. My wings had to work double-time just to stay aloft. I heard the snap of branches below.

_The Eraser._ A groan followed the snap. Nope, it was Gazzy.

"The extra water weight is too much for my wings to support me!" he called up. Let's make a check-list, shall we? Gazzy's plan was a fail: check. We got the food we needed: nope. We now had a blood-thirsty Eraser after us: check. Max would be infuriated right now: check. Gazzy can't fly right now: check. Now, where does that leave us? Oh, right! We were total sitting ducks. I mean, sitting bird kids.

* * *

**Luna's POV:**

I clutched the sides of my head to make the unbearable searing pain leave my mind. I couldn't focus, colored dots swarmed my vision and nausea took its toll.

_Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop! Stop!_ The edge of the pain subsided. I waited to sink into the lava... I hit... grass. _Whaat?_ My wing was bent the complete wrong direction against my back, but I did hit grass. I peered up at the sky. No more storm. _Simulation?_ _No you can't mess with the weather, can you?_ I think I could make out Jeb and a dozen scientists racing toward me with my tunnel vision, but I wasn't positive. I still clutched my head to make sure my head hadn't blown into a million pieces from whatever the lightning and thunder did to me.

"Good job Luna, no, great job. You could prove far more useful in the game than we had imagined," Jeb beamed. The other scientists nodded in agreement. I really only caught half of what he said, the other half hurt too much to listen to.

"So... I made that storm happen?" I whispered.

"No," Jeb grinned.

"Then what the hey from horses did I do that was so great to be worshiped for centuries?" I yelled at him painfully, tired of all the mind tricks.

"You didn't create the storm. You ended a storm cell that spanned states," he smiled.

One moment I was giving him the universal: _Who abducted your brains and made you come to such a brainless conclusion?_ look, and the next moment I was tossed roughly back into my cage.

_If I'm such a prized part of this game, why am I in a cage?_ I edged to the deepest depths of my cage (2 inches back). Angel was looking at me funny despite the fact that she also looked like a ragdoll thrown into a lion's den.

"What?" I snapped. "Sorry." I inched closer, "What's up?" I asked in a more gentle tone.

"The scientists. They're going around saying 'phenomenal', 'extraordinary', and 'exquisite', yet they all think the same thing inside. They're thinking 'what a monster', just that one word spinning around 'monster', 'monster', 'monster'. Why are they thinking that, Luna? Is it me?" She asked even though she fully well knew why. My eyes widened and I scooted into the back of my cage again.

"I don't know, Angel. I don't know. However, I know they would never think that about you," I smiled confidently. Hopefully that would boost her morale. As for me, I clutched my still hurting head and started shaking in fear.

_Why did I have to be such a monster? I didn't even mean to end a storm. Sure, I wanted it to stop, but that doesn't mean __**I**__ended it. Ugh. I never liked too much food for thought._

* * *

**Gazzy's POV:**

We managed to climb a tree. The Eraser was still below the tree, walking in circles and baying like a dog. I felt like we were in a twisted version of a cat vs. dog game. A few minutes ago, the rain stopped suddenly in the middle of the storm and poof... gone. We were drying our wings out before we left to reach Lake Mead when the Eraser finally decided to get smart and brought a chainsaw over.

"Come on Iggy, time for up and away."

"What's the trajectory?" he questioned.

"Uh... straight up and follow me?" I hesitantly answered.

"No, wrong trajectory."

"Oh, 80° down to your right," I told him while comprehension finally dawned on me. We snapped our wings out and Iggy sped straight into the Eraser, slamming his sneaker right in the cashier's muzzle.

"It took you that long to get a chainsaw? Am I supposed to be unworthy to your superiors? Geez! There are only so many bird kids," he told the unconscious Eraser irritably. We finally started getting on course again right where we left off: on an empty stomach.

* * *

**Luna's POV**:

I don't know how the whole big rescue plan was supposed to go down but I'm pretty sure getting in cages was not part of the plan, not that I would have done much better. (I was the second to get caged so I really shouldn't be talking.)

I was ecstatic about the Flock's reunion and all, but cold dread filled the bottom of my stomach. First off, Max would probably blow the School off the face of the Earth ten times over when she found that Jeb was here. And numbero deux, all seven of the flocks cages were moved to a large metal room with a speaker. Above the speaker was a large screen displaying fourteen filled blanks. One of them said B44-11.

"A lottery," I gasped. The Flock would be pitted against each other along with Erasers in a match watched by government officials all over the world. It was a fight to the death.

_How will I get myself out of this mess?_

* * *

**Mwahahaha... sooooo... how'd I do (flashes doe eyes like Gazzy)? Review :)**

**-I didn't go through some of my revising process... so the second half might be sloppier than the first half of this chappie, just tell me if u think so too.**


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